Keeping employees happy in their workplace is key to lower staff turnover and higher productivity levels. Getting your whole office involved in green initiatives to get people working as a team to have fun.
Going green is more than a fun new trend, however. The ‘green’ in the phrase stands for the earth. Thus, going green is a daily realisation of how your lifestyle affects the natural world and what you can do to be more earth-friendly.
Why go green?
Irresponsible use of substances such as plastics, unchecked fumes, chemicals and waste material from man-made factories contaminate the natural environment.
These contaminants can be spread by water, air, and produce, ending up in the food we eat. Being ‘green,’ or ‘eco-friendly,’ is important to protect what we have on the planet, preserve our natural resources and maintain a healthy environment.
There are many ways to improve your overall staff satisfaction. One is to do something good for the earth while improving the happiness levels of your employees.
Many modern employees consider environmentalism important, and bringing a ‘green mindset’ to work might keep your employees motivated and invested in their jobs.
Studies show that employees who work at eco-friendly companies have higher opinions of their employers, as well as greater productivity. If you’re ready to have a green office, here are some simple, cost-effective ways you can incorporate into your workplace!
1) Implement plastic-free days
If your employees often bring their lunch in single-use plastic containers or regularly eat out at fast food restaurants, you might like to implement plastic-free days at the office.
To avoid discontent, arrange a potluck lunch and provide reusable plates and cutlery or even provide small prizes or vouchers to everyone who manages to avoid plastic for the day.
To minimise plastic, try buying stock in bulk or request environmentally-friendly packaging materials when you place orders. You can also encourage your employees to bring their own reusable cutlery, food storage/takeaway containers and reusable mugs to work.
With most single-use items ending up in the landfill, you can have a great impact if you use reusables.
2) Green Volunteering
Volunteering together is a great way to promote teamwork, and will leave your employees feeling satisfied and fulfilled. You could organise days out for employees to volunteer for a local environmental charity or fundraise for a charity through a bake sale or fun run.
Also, you could organise a clean-up for your local beach or park, where your employees work together to pick up all the trash that has been left in a local area.
This is a great way for your team to have fun together helping to clean the environment. At the same time, it will raise awareness of how important it is to look after our natural resources. If we don’t, nobody else will!
3) Bring natural light into your office
Instead of relying on unpleasant, unnatural lighting, why not try to bring in natural light to your office? Studies have shown that it is more productive to work in natural lighting because you will not suffer from the ill-effects of harsh lighting.
If you aren’t able to have large windows fitted, you may want to reposition your desks.
By making full use of your windows, you will reduce your consumption of electricity and help your employees feel much better – thereby allowing them to get more work done.
4) Encourage employees to work from home (if applicable to your business)
If the jobs in your business allow for workers to work remotely (for instance, call centres or IT consultation), why not try something different and offer your employees the freedom to work from home?
Working from home can help ensure your team isn’t adding to their carbon footprint through their commute and can even make them more productive. If implementing a working-from-home program suits your business, offer your employees the chance to do so and watch the job satisfaction and productivity soar!
5) Decorate your office with plants
As we spend more time than ever indoors, there is no doubt that being in and around nature is good for us. Just having plants in the office can help greatly in reducing stress.Take advantage of how looking at nature can help us feel more relaxed and decorate your office with a few well-placed plants.
Studies have proven that having greenery around the office is great for improving staff attention spans and even your mood!
To start with, you might like to gift each employee with a small plant for their desk. With that, they can have a little piece of nature with them throughout the day.
If your goal is to help your employees be happy and productive, going green is one of the easiest ways to fulfil it. Going green will help you and your employees, and will also minimise your company’s impact on the earth. With these tips, transform your office into a green office!